Setting sails for the manned exploration of our solar system, the topic of efficient, safe, and robust Life Support Systems (LSS) becomes increasingly important. Facing a multitude of possible LSS concepts, involving physical, chemical, and biological methods, the design and analysis of LSS requires an efficient synchronization of multiple scientific and engineering disciplines, including medicine to cover crew needs. An LSS is supposed to control the environmental conditions and the state of the consumable buffers in a habitat. Multiple internal and external effects can compromise the stability of such a complex system. An optimal LSS should be able to cope with the disturbances. A stable and robust LSS must be the goal of every LSS design effort. The state of the art LSS design approach is based on a static Equivalent System Mass (ESM). The ESM allows selecting LSS technologies with the lowest mass, volume, power, and cooling requirements. The mass cost of all these parameters is summarized into one number, comparable across all different LSS methods. In addition, the ESM involves a crewtime component weighted with the mass of a given LSS architecture. In this thesis an approach is suggested to enhance the ESM design process through dynamic analyses, to investigate the robustness of LSS architectures designed to the averages. To provide the necessary transient characteristics, relevant LSS subsystems, including the crew, must be characterized in a dynamic manner. Since LSS experiments are costly and time consuming, the experimental derivation of dynamic LSS parameters is rarely possible. In the past, computer simulations have been suggested as a possible solution to this problem. The realization of this vision is the core of this thesis. To provide the necessary capabilities, a set of requirements for an integral LSS modeling suite was derived. Based on a thorough state of the art review, the postulated requirements is satisfied through the development of a corresponding modeling environment named the Virtual Habitat (V-HAB). The tool includes all necessary modules to dynamically simulate LSS operations for complete mission scenarios, creating an integral LSS modeling suite. Among others, V-HAB is equipped with a dynamic and environmentally sensitive crew model, which covers one of the shortcomings of past LSS simulation efforts. The ability of V-HAB to support LSS analyses with dynamic simulations of relevant mission scenarios is demonstrated in relevant case studies. The first simulation depicts the International Space Station (ISS) while two further case studies simulate Mars mission LSS architectures. The results prove that a tool like V-HAB is able to effectively predict LSS environmental conditions and their impact on the crew. The findings are a first proof of concept that entire mission scenarios can be successfully simulated before actual LSSs are built. With detailed knowledge of boundary conditions, a modeling suite like V-HAB can be a legitimate LSS design and analysis tool.
The virtual habitat: Integral modeling and dynamic simulation of life support systems
2012
420 Seiten, Bilder, Tabellen, 231 Quellen
Theses
English
The Virtual Habitat - A Tool for Dynamic Life Support System Simulations
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